Ski Hill Sanitary Sewer Expansion

The City of North Bay retained Exp Services to conduct a Class Environmental Assessment (Class EA) Study, Schedule B to investigate the need for an extension to the sanitary sewer at Janey Avenue in North Bay. This study was conducted in accordance with the planning and design process for Schedule B projects as outlined in the Municipal Engineers Association "Municipal Class Environmental Assessment" (October 2000, as amended in 2011).

Study Location

The study area is located in the Airport Hill area in North Bay. The study area encompasses the section of land south of Janey Avenue, between the Janey Avenue pumping station and the future developable land located south of Surrey Drive (Future Kenreta drive extension and Baxter Court). See Figure 1. The western limit of the study area is the existing sanitary sewer located on Kenreta Drive, the eastern limit being the TransCanada Right-of-way (ROW).

Need and Justification

There is continued residential development in the Airport Hill residential area in North Bay. The City's current sanitary sewer network is laid out so that the majority of the sewage produced from residential neighbourhoods in the Airport Hill area flows through the Francis Street sewer line, including sewage from an existing pumping station on Janey Avenue. Because of the rapid rate at which residential development has taken place in this area, the Francis Street sewer line has reached its maximum capacity in several locations and the pumping station has reached or is nearing its capacity. In order to accommodate further development, the existing sanitary sewers would need to be upgraded which would be very costly and disruptive to the public given its alignment. An alternative to this would be to eliminate the pumping station on Janey Avenue and extend a trunk sanitary sewer across the Laurentian Ski Hill to connect to an existing sewer line on Kenreta Drive. The elimination of the pumping station would alow for the redirection of sanitary flows from the eastern portion of Airport Hill away from the Francis Street sewer line. This would result in a reduced demand on the Francis Street sewer line while increasing capacity to accommodate new development in the desirable Airport Hill. Decommissioning of the pumping station also eliminates the ongoing costs of the required maintenance. The purpose of this work was to evaluate and design alternative routes to connect the sanitary sewer at Janey Avenue to Kenreta Drive.